A new diet for Mr. President

February 15, 2013 : ’Tunji Ajibade(tunjioa@yahoo.com)

’Tunji Ajibade

It should not go unnoticed. The confession, as well as an inspection, that President Goodluck Jonathan made. Both incidents had happened last January. Strikingly, both blew cool air over itching earlobes that time, except that there are questions. This is what happened: One fateful day this last January, the President had gone to a church. Nigerians didn’t need him to tell them that power supply had improved towards the last part of 2012; that was what he said from the pulpit, to an attentive congregation. Then, he had added: “You will see it by yourself if there is electricity.” This writer had smiled when the President said that, a sign the leader finally got a stridently shouted message. Later, the President had paid an unscheduled visit to a police college. “Why are you treating people like poultry chicken”? It was the question President Jonathan had asked the police authorities, when he saw the poor state of the facilities used in training officers. Such is a reason Nigerians are not surprised at the quality of police officers on their highways. But what did the number one citizen see at the police college on that occasion?

Imagine a plastered wall. But one that has come un-plastered, parts slicing off and leaving scars like a wounded spot on the body. The ceilings had open lips, and could have poured down saliva without regard for even an august visitor if they had their way. And the floor? Potholes on the notorious East-West Road looked better. The bedding sat on stones. The few mattresses and blankets were obviously what recruits brought by themselves. As for the majority of the spring beds, they lacked mattresses, and the cupboards beside them could pass for rat’s house on a refuse dump. That was what a TV station showed for days, and the President too saw, before he went for a visit. Nigerians accepted the fact that their President did something out of the ordinary that time.

But there is the question: Why does it take the President watching a national embarrassment on TV, before he paid an unscheduled visit to a national facility? Such should be a constant in any administration that means business. Surprise visits of the leader to check on what his faces do in their little corners. This has not been the case in President Jonathan’s administration. Yet, watchers of politics know that such visits attract much credit to a sitting president.

What do Nigerians see at the moment? Their president has been made to sit behind his table, and all he does is what his men say, not what he wants to do. It is a way for any administration to lose colour, lose vibrancy – by doing nothing out of the mode. One former minister once commented to this writer, that civil servants are good at the art of making a minister concentrate on files, signing contracts throughout his tenure. That way, they block off the view of their principal, have their way in all things, and thus perpetuate the status quo. It’s a reason many political office holders come, and no one remembers them the day after.

They leave nothing significant, so no one connects them to anything of significance. But the aides to the same said minister had commented about their principal, also to this writer: “He was always a step ahead of us. He always knew what he wanted, and he had done his own research even before we gave him feedback on our assignments.” That is a leader. No wonder the said minister had been a toast of the press, same as a former president who had also regularly ignored protocol, and had one day walked off a road into a footpath in the bush, where he met a widow in her village and brought one of her sons to live with him in the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Like sports, politics has surprise elements, the kind of moves as though on a chess board, that could make a discerning citizen shake his head with a smile, thinking of the ingenuity of his leader. Sometimes, that establishes the image of his leader in his mind, permanently, irrespective of the performance of the leader in office. For the leader acts out of a mode, doing the unusual, the unexpected, the type only bright politicians can spring on citizens who are used to not expecting much. It’s a touch of political finesse. And anyone can call such a leader strange names. But images of unusual acts are a flash of brilliance; they construct myth, building stories and images that no unforgettable leader can do without – Winston Churchill had his. So did F.D. Roosevelt. Former Premier of the old Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, had his that Yoruba people still mention – otherwise the personality, the office of a leader, is demystified. All of that, as well as its intricacies is for another day though. For the moment, the issue is what the nation’s police colleges, a major national institution, ought to be but is not.

Now, place side by side what President Jonathan saw at the Police College, Ikeja, with what obtains in standard police colleges in saner climes. Climes where police authorities fully train the officers they unleash on the civil populace. Such a standard college has an Armament Section that is responsible for setting, maintaining and approving firearms and tactical training standards. A Community Policing Section that is responsible for the delivery of basic training to all police recruits. And it also delivers training in areas of Human Rights, Ethics, Professionalism, Customer Service, Diversity, Community Mobilisation, Crime Prevention, and Crime Prevention.

Here too, Physical Fitness Coordinators plan, organise, develop and administer physical fitness, and there is a Wellness Team with expertise in areas of health, fitness and nutrition for officers. The Investigative Training section provides training instruction in general investigative techniques, major case management, interviewing skills, plainclothes work, crime scene management and victim issues. More advanced training is also given to qualify officers to handle investigations involving sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, drugs and sudden deaths. The Traffic Section, a sub-unit of the Investigative Section, concentrates on training members in aspects of the Highway Traffic Act and Regulations. In-Service Training Section delivers annual refresher and officer safety training to both frontline and non-frontline personnel.

Moreover, there is a Leadership and Business Systems Section. The section delivers information technology training on police software applications, financial systems, and administrative applications to all officers, including new recruits. And there is also the Learning Development and Standards Section that is responsible for e-learning, and Quality Assurance, as well as the Police Vehicle Operations section that is responsible for delivering training on various modes of transport, including police cars, motorcycles, all terrain vehicles and bicycles.

It’s needless pointing out that such training as stated needed hi-tech equipment, and expertise. The reader may place these needs side by side the squalor that the President saw at the Ikeja police college. Yet, that is where the police authorities have been churning out, for decades, the kind of officers that Nigerians come across on a daily basis. How badly the political leadership that had, over the years, allowed the police authorities to get away with this is an issue. For the same is found in other segments of the nation’s major institutions. Instructors at army training depots will typically tell recruits that, “It is just for a short while,” of their dilapidated facilities. The Nigerian Prison Service has its sores. Customs Service is not left out.

The fact of the matter, however, is that until leadership here takes upon itself to, as much as possible check on authorities in each of the nation’s major security institutions, allocations will be made in the budget each year, it will be exhausted with every figure neatly retired on papers, while the concerned institutions remain as bad as they have always been. It may be that if President Jonathan personally takes a closer interest in these institutions, picking up a somewhat different visitation diet that enables him to see firsthand, the lies woven around them, he will appreciate better the reality of what he presides over. And with actions targeted at undoing such lies, he may even add some texture and colour to his administration. Nigerians wait. But for now, the waiting game continues.

Okupe and Rueben Abati use to say that one of Jonathan’s achievements
is exposing corruption. And now, the Jonathan disciples would list exposing the
rots in Police Collage as another of Jonathan’s achievements in office. Have you
heard of lowlife before? Another chapter Jare, late Fela Kuti would say!

The visit was no more than ego trip. To get cheap unearned popularity. Just to add lustre and cash in on 2015 presidential election.

burning spear

does obama pay unscheduled visit to police barracks–its only in africa that we have such rubbish

Amukoko

We don’t have police “barracks” or quarters here!

STRIKER

What a perfect submission! but my fear is that u are called into this same govt u are criticizing today, u will forget all this u are saying and begin to pursued ur selfish goals. Abati is a typical example

Columnists

"Mr Orubebe, you are former minister of the Federal Republic, you are a statesman in your own right and you must be careful about what you say and about the allegations or accusations that you make and certainly you must be careful about your public conducts."

INEC's Chairman, Attairu Jega cautioning Orubebe over his conduct during the release of the Presidential election results.